Launch in Bosnia-Herzegovina

2005-09-22

Sarajevo, 19 September 2005 – The United Nations Development
Programme and the Foreign Trade Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina launched the
Global Compact in this country today.

This initiative pursues two complementary objectives in BiH: first, to
incorporate ten principles related to human rights, labour rights, environmental
sustainability and anti-corruption into business strategy and operations; and
second, to encourage partnerships among key stakeholders for the wider
development of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

„This network will have many functions. It will be a platform for learning
and dialogue, provide support to address the challenges of market transition,
and above all, ensure that conditions in which private enterprise can thrive,
and generate much needed wealth, are fully respect of the law and its
obligations, for the wider public good“, said Mr. Jens Toyberg-Franzen, UNDP
Resident Representative, during the event in Sarajevo.

„I am sure that this day presents an important moment in Bosnia and
Herzegovina‘s path towards universally accepted principles of human rights,
ecologically sustainable development and un-discrimination, in the widest sense
of these words. Therefore, I invite all companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina to
join the Global Compact initiative“, said the Prime Minister of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Mr. Adnan Terzic, in a letter read during the launching ceremony.

There was broad consensus that participation in the Global Compact will help
companies from Bosnia-Herzegovina to adapt to EU values and principles. EU-based
companies are increasingly emphasizing the tremendous importance of good
corporate behavior in order to stay competitive. Mr. Renzo Daviddi, Head of the
Economic and Political Section of the EU Delegation in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
emphasized that “perhaps the implementation of the Global Compact is then a
small step forward towards European Union”.

For more information about the Global Compact in Bosnia-Herzegovina, please
contact Ms. Vanja Jancovic (vjancovic@undp.ba) or Mr. Fuad Curcic (fcurcic@undp.ba) of UNDP.